


Ruffled Fur

by BlownAwayEveryday



Category: Bohemian Rhapsody (Movie 2018), Queen (Band)
Genre: 70's AU, Anal Sex, Charismatic Freddie, Fluff and Angst, Light Bondage, Loved up Freddie, Loving Jim, M/M, Missing kitten!, Smut, Song writing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-06
Updated: 2020-09-09
Packaged: 2021-03-06 16:27:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,869
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26321890
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlownAwayEveryday/pseuds/BlownAwayEveryday
Summary: 22-year-old Freddie Mercury is living the dream. Back from Queen’s first successful tour of the USA, Freddie has moved in with his adoring husband Jim and their kitten Ebony. He is so much in love that Brian can’t even interest him in a spot of song writing!Then Ebony goes missing, and Freddie is reminded that life for him can never be easy. He is – after all his recent success – a failure, and Jim cannot possibly love him after this….can he?
Relationships: Jim Hutton/Freddie Mercury
Comments: 11
Kudos: 25





	1. Cat Slide

**Author's Note:**

> Just a catch up with our gorgeous boys lovies 😊
> 
> Oh….and the sections in italics are daydreams
> 
> I would also like to thank our beloved Ballet Shoe xx Without her adorable drawing at https://www.instagram.com/p/B8rJIrpBH0M/ this fic would never have been inspired

_The pangs of pleasure pulsed with his heartbeat._

_Subtle, groaning, creeping, cresting, but still the gentle assault continued. Lips pressed to the hollow of his throat, fingers trailed, barely touching the skin at his waist before a large warm hand settled on his hip, dwarfing his body in more than ample cover._

_A thumb ventured into his belly button as though seeking secret passage to the pleasure centres within._

_Jim pulled away abruptly, taking the warmth and surety with him._

_“No?” he asked chuckling, a hand at each of Freddie’s hips, a teasing smile playing around his lips._

_Freddie’s gasp ended on a quiet whimper as the chasm widened between their bodies. The cooler air rushing in. The pleasure pulsing in the pit of his stomach like an enigmatic power source, but still he would not give in._

_He had been issued with a challenge; the gauntlet was down. He could not make a sound._

_No groans, or moans, no shrieks, or wild cries of pleasure._

_Jim was convinced that Freddie couldn’t do it. Freddie wasn’t entirely convinced he could, but he wouldn’t let Jim win!_

_Suddenly Freddie was swung around and pressed to the wall. A large hand gripped his wrists firmly above his head, while another squeezed his torso against the hard wall of Jim’s body. Jim’s arousal digging deeply into the flesh of his buttocks._

_Freddie was helpless._

_The pulses of pleasure intensified threatening to engulf him, and in that moment his challenge took on a different course. Freddie needed Jim’s touch. Fingers, lips pressing, teasing, testing, finding those secret spots that Jim played like a familiar violin._

_Freddie dropped his head back onto Jim’s shoulder and cried out weakly. He was lost, but Jim would guide him home._

“Freddie! FREDDIE! Where the fuck are you man?!” Brian’s curly mop of dark hair came into focus, and Freddie’s memory faded from his mind’s eye.

He giggled, a hand automatically covering his mouth.

Brian pushed aside Freddie’s pen wielding hand to see the fruits of his labour, then sat back on his haunches with a frustrated sigh. “A kitten, and what’s that…. a fucking shopping list?” Brian said with exasperation.

“Strawberries and ice cream” Freddie enunciated regally, licking his rosebud lips. “What?!!” he shrieked with humour, dark eyes dancing with merriment. He never failed to get pleasure from winding Brian so tight that he squeaked. “Jim told me to leave a note of what I wanted for dinner,” he clarified.

Brian picked up the paper, drawing it closer to his face in disbelief before pushing it away again. “It’s this shit that brings Jim round to mine at a God forsaken hour of the morning” he spat.

It was Freddie’s turn to sit back on his heels, pen held aloft as a faint smile momentarily lit his face before he managed to smuggle it back under a veneer of disinterest.

Freddie had been so sure that Jim had rushed off early that morning to meet another man. His heart leapt with relief that the man had been Brian.

“Jim came to see you this morning?” The end of Freddie’s sentence rose with a traitorous inflection.

“Yes. He had a coffee before he went off to college.” Brian rubbed his head as though deciding whether to continue.

“Jim worries Freddie,” Brian admitted softly, nervous of how his words would be received.

A rare intrusion into Freddie’s private thoughts.

A betrayal of Jim’s confidence.

Brian’s green eyes caught Freddie’s brown ones in a scarce flash of connection, before Freddie dropped his eyes to the sketch pad.

“He worries that …you’re not happy” Brian dared to continue. “He thinks you hide stuff from him to keep him contented. He doesn’t think you eat enough either...” Brian’s voice trailed off with apprehension. “He’s worried that you can’t relax around him, that you can’t be yourself.”

Freddie tapped the end of his pen on the pad. “Well tonight he won’t worry because I do want to eat…. strawberries and ice cream.” The humour was back, the subject deftly avoided.

“That’s not a meal Freddie, it’s a child’s birthday treat at best.” Brian huffed.

Freddie snatched the paper back. “Maybe I didn’t have those treats as a child. Maybe I’m making up for lost time” he snapped petulantly.

Brian shook his head with dismay, hoping to shake the frustration out.

“Anyway, come on, we need something better than this” he said scrambling onto more comfortable territory, shaking the paper at Freddie.

“Look Brian, I can see what you’re trying to do darling, but you’re going about it the wrong way” Freddie said with a gentle impatience. “I think it’s a wonderful idea to write a song for our friends in Japan, but their language is phonetically different to ours…”

“Well I know that” Brian interrupted huffing with frustration. “We need to do something special though Fred. Something to show them…and the world…. how much we appreciate their support. They moved mountains to make your wedding day perfect.”

Freddie glowed, warming from the inside as a fresh batch of memories rushed over him.

Brian sniggered. “I’ve never seen you this loved up!”

Freddie’s focus suddenly snapped back to the task at hand. “We need to hire a Japanese interpreter. Someone who can write what we want to say with Japanese words, but in English phonetics so I can at least pronounce it correctly when I sing the words.”

“We can’t afford an interpreter Fred” Brian mumbled with disappointment.

“Then it won’t be special will it darling. If it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing properly. We can’t show them how much they mean to us by not making the effort like they did for us” Freddie concluded.

Brian looked at his watch and huffed again, unfolding his long legs as he attempted to stand. “I’m late for uni….again!”

Freddie jumped to his feet, rubbing Brian’s shoulder reassuringly. “We’ll get there Bri. Remember when you were in hospital and I couldn’t make the words to Prophet Song come out of my mouth?”

Brian nodded, surprised that Freddie deigned to raise such a dark time in conversation.

“You told me to have a little faith, and the next moment we were on a tour bus. Right, weren’t you?” Freddie quipped brightly. “I’ll come over later when you and Roggie have finished for the day, we’ll jam, we’ll drink, we’ll work it out, you’ll see.”

Brian made his way through the door, hustling the red special ahead of him.

“It’s still weird that you don’t live with us anymore” Brian said with a smile.

Freddie giggled at Ebony, his tiny black kitten crawling out from underneath the sofa the moment their guest was leaving.

Brian stopped and slowly turned, as though he was already regretting the next thing to come out of his mouth.

“You are happy though…. aren’t you Fred?” he asked in earnest.

Freddie nodded shyly, but the glint in his eye and the tinge of pink to his cheeks gave him away. “I’m very happy Brian” he whispered to his bare feet.

Brian smiled. “Good. Tell Jim that once in a while.”

Freddie giggled and watched Brian make his way down the path, the weight of the world in its usual place - on his friend’s shoulders.

*********************************

_The heat of their bodies fused them together. Freddie trembled helplessly as a slick tongue wandered down the valley of his buttocks._

_“What’s your safe word?” The voice in his ear was rough with passion._

_“Ebony” he whispered._

_“Louder!” This time the voice was clear, his lover was still in control._

_“Ebony” he repeated._

_His wrists were tied above his head. His ankles loosely bonded with Jim’s old bar ties; each limb secured to the warm mahogany posts of their bed._

_His cheek pressed into the soft pillow._

_Jim gasped loudly as he entered him, placing an oddly tender kiss to his cheek, nipping the soft lobe of his ear between sharp teeth._

_Freddie’s mouth fell open as Jim found his pace, nudging his goal with every earth shattering thrust._

_Freddie gasped for air._

_There was none._

_There was only Jim._

_The weight of his body, the scent of his cologne, the sweat slick between them._

_Freddie decided he didn’t need air anyway._

_He had everything he needed._

_“Too much?” Jim asked on an impassioned gasp._

_Freddie shook his head._

_Later when he realised it had been too much, the same man that had mastered him, would cradle him._

Freddie smiled to himself as he visualised what he must look like sitting on the bedroom carpet, paintbrush held aloft while memories of the previous night - of Jim - rushed through his mind, warming his skin, and weakening his limbs.

It was all in his head - it had to be.

A type of psychosis.

Wish fulfillment that had somehow manifested itself into a memory.

Freddie had wished so long and so hard for love.

For a man he could dote on. 

A man he could love with the whole of his heart, who didn’t push his affections away.

A man who celebrated his successes and felt his pain deeply.

A man who laughed with him – not at him - when the burden of his art became too great.

Jim was not like any man he had ever known.

Jim was calm, and strong, and sure – always so sure.

He didn’t change with the wind.

He didn’t love Freddie when the beat was loud and the whiskey flowing, only to deny knowing him in the cool light of day.

Jim didn’t harm his body, dull his senses, or scatter the pieces of his long-ago broken heart, and call it love.

Jim was soft and tender and gentle.

Jim was intense and passionate and very very hard.

Jim was his whole world.

Freddie looked down at his page. He had started to add colour to the crest that he would insist upon using as the band logo. It was sharp, and poignant. The boys’ star signs. Equal and balanced. The four extremes that made up Queen.

Although there was rather too much pink…..

The trail of pink extended out from the palate onto the carpet in small round…. paw prints!

Freddie gasped in horror. His brown eyes wide, his fingers grasping at chunks of midnight black hair.

“Shit! EBONY NO!!!!!” he wailed. “Daddy is gonna kill us!”

The tiny ball of fur withdrew, tumbling over her own back paws in the rush to escape her father’s wrath.

She turned tail, pirouetting surprisingly fast and gracefully on small paws.

Freddie leapt from his knees following the kitten along the landing towards the bathroom. “Ebony, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you. I’m not really angry, Ebony…. come on….you’re trailing paint all over the house!”

With a succession of graceful leaps Ebony pounced from the toilet, onto the basin, and teetered on the window ledge. She cast a helpless look towards Freddie who scrambled to help her before the momentum toppled her out of the window.

Freddie’s arm shot out to grasp the beloved kitten, but it was too late. Claws could be heard scrambling on the cat slide roof before a howl of terror as she plummeted into the garden below.


	2. Partners in Crime

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As Freddie rushes out to help little Ebony he is reminded of all the reasons why he will fail in his quest to find her.  
> Thankfully he is more resourceful and charismatic than he knows...and he's not alone...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope that you have enjoyed this little sneaky peek into our boys' lives lovies xx

The next howl came from Freddie.

He staggered for a moment; a hand clasped over his mouth in horror as the events of the last few seconds washed over him. His feet galvanised into action as he raced down the stairs and flung open the back door into the small yard.

As abruptly as it began, the adrenaline cut off, and what was left was the cold hand of fear that wrapped itself around his torso like icy silk, fusing his hand to the door frame, and freezing his feet to the ground.

Freddie couldn’t take another step.

The image of her delicate feathery body crumpled on the hard concrete tormented him before he had even seen it.

A cry of pain escaped him.

“E..E..Ebony?” he whimpered on a shaky breath, before forcing his feet to do the right thing.

To go to the little kitten in her hour of need.

To do whatever he could to ease her suffering.

To just be with her.

Freddie took two steps forward.

He could see the whole yard.

The yard was empty.

There was no little body crumpled on the ground.

There was no sign of the kitten at all.

Freddie rushed forward to the spot he expected to find her. Looking up at the open window from which he was certain he had seen her fall.

He checked behind the drainpipe, he checked inside and behind the coal house.

Ebony was nowhere to be seen.

An enormous ceramic plant pot caught his eye. He peered into the opening, hoping to see two glossy emerald eyes, but all that greeted him was darkness. He called her name and put his ear to the pot hoping to hear Ebony’s adorable kitten squeaks from inside.

“Hey!” a dismembered voice came from nowhere.

Freddie jumped, and was embarrassed to see a man of similar age peering at him oddly over the fence.

He held a hand up to shelter his eyes from the autumnal sunlight before asking the stranger, “Have you seen a black kitten?”

The man nodded with a broad confident smile.

“Yeah,” he said pointing to an empty spot in his own yard. “There was a tiny cat just there when I came out, but it scarpered when it saw me.”

Freddie’s heart leapt with hope, as he vaulted athletically over the fence, dropping effortlessly on the other side.

“May I?” he asked after the event.

Freddie pulled a hand through his unruly curls suddenly very conscious of the disheveled mess he must look to the stranger.

His eyes dropped to the ground.

His feet were bare.

None of that mattered. He had to find Ebony.

“Is she ok? I mean…. she didn’t look injured?” he whispered as fear gripped his throat once more.

The man shook his head and took a drag on his cigarette. “Not that I noticed. She was chasing the leaf pile picked up in the wind so …no, I don’t think so.”

Freddie grasped a hand to his heart. “Thank God!…..thank you so much. Which way did she go?”

The neighbour pointed towards Freddie. “Back your way, but she must have detoured, or you would have seen her on your way out. I’m Eddie by the way” he stuck out his hand in greeting.

Freddie wiped a nervous palm on his skin-tight jeans, before returning the courtesy.

“Oh… I’m Freddie” he giggled at the similar sounding name, before peering under the small shrubs in his neighbours’ yard, desperate for two disgruntled eyes to greet him.

“Was that your friend’s guitar I saw earlier?” Eddie continued, completely obvious to the urgency of the situation. “The ruby coloured wooden one? It’s so cool!”

Freddie glanced back, pointing in the direction of the absent kitten and muttered “Sorry Eddie, I don’t mean to be rude, I...I have to find Ebony. She’s too young to be out alone….and Jim will murder me.”

The squeal of a car braking from the road punctuated the air, galvanising Freddie into a sprint.

There was no streak of black skittling from a near miss, just a group of young people surrounding a car, laughing with the driver.

Freddie folded forward, hands to his knees while he regained his breath, not sure if to be relieved that the kitten hadn’t been the cause of the braking vehicle or frustrated that Ebony was still nowhere to be seen.

He heard footfalls alongside him. “I’ll help you look” said Eddie.

Freddie turned to Eddie, clasping his hands in a fear fuelled icy grip. “Thank you. Her name is Ebony. She has black fur and green eyes, but she’s very timid so if you see her call me, don’t approach her.”

“Are you Jim’s new housemate?” the inquisition began. “I’ve heard you through the wall, but Jim never mentioned anyone was moving in.”

Freddie blushed from the soles of his feet to the roots of his hair.

“Top bloke Jim. He often sits on the back doorstep to smoke a cigarette and we have a chat. Not sure what he’s doing half the time, he just sits and stares, like maybe he’s putting the world to rights in his mind” Eddie shrieked with laughter, jangling Freddie’s taut nerves. “He didn’t mention you though. Where do you sleep? These houses only have one bedroom?” Without waiting for a reply Eddie mercifully continued “I’ve heard you singing? You’re so good. You should be in a band.”

Freddie came to a stop at the crossroads, glancing up each road in turn, desperate for a glimpse of black fur.

“I am in a band” he said shyly, hints of a blush gathering on the apples of his cheeks.

Eddie glowed with pride at having guessed correctly. “Where do you play?”

“Oh…here and there” Freddie shrugged noncommittally, stopping a man to ask if he’d seen Ebony.

“Where was your last concert?”

“The Uris” he responded absentmindedly.

“Oh I don’t think I’ve heard of that - is that in London?” the inquisition continued.

“No, New York City” the blush deepened.

“Oh my God!!!” shrieked Eddie causing strangers to look around. “You’ve played in New York? I have never been to New York. What do you call your band?”

“Queen” stated Freddie proudly.

Eddie dropped his hands to his knees. “Oh my God I love you guys!” he shrieked “She’s a killer queen, blah blah da blah-blah-blah.” Eddie gasped pointing his finger at Freddie “Oh my God you’re him. You’re Freddie Mercury!!!!!!” Eddie raised his arms as though addressing the entire street, who much to Freddie’s horror were only too keen to listen. “I live next door to Freddie Mercury!”

Freddie used the attention to his advantage, clutching the arm of an elderly woman who was scurrying by with a wicker basket full of bread and fruit. “Excuse me, have you seen a little black kitten please?” The woman shook her head, her lips pursed as she eyed Freddie up and down with suspicion.

“No offence but you look nothing like him. Must be the war paint. You look so …well…normal.” Eddie tucked a finger under the sleeve of Freddie’s powder blue tee. “You look smaller too…” he pointed at Freddie’s bare feet. “…without the platforms.”

Eddie had a point. His lack of shoes were slowing him down, and his feet were turning blue.

It was hopeless.

Ebony could be anywhere.

Someone could have taken her; he didn’t even know if she had come in this direction.

He had to think like a kitten. If he were small, and out alone for the first time – where would he go?

The thought had the effect of louvred doors opening in his stomach – the fear, the pain, the crushing sense of loss rushed through on an icy blast, and in seconds he was back there again.

He was the helpless boy with enormous teeth.

Too feeble, too stupid to protect himself.

A football bounced on the pavement, so close to his bare feet that Freddie yelped in anticipation.

Hopping up and down as though it had actually made contact.

A boy nervously snatched the ball from the air, as his father clamped a large hand on his shoulder.

“That’s no way to greet a celebrity son.” The man laughed nervously before thrusting a notepad at Freddie. “Can the boy have your autograph please?”

Freddie rubbed his eyes before looking hurriedly from side to side.

There were people everywhere.

This was the least likely place that Ebony would be, and just for a moment Freddie was envious of the thick leaves that Ebony was likely to be sheltering under.

He tentatively took the notepad and pen from the man, forced an enormous showman smile and in large swirling letters he wrote his name, finishing with a flamboyant heart over the ‘i’.

Freddie handed the pad to the boy, ruffling his hair apprehensively before whispering “You haven’t seen a tiny black kitten have you?”

The boy shook his head in disbelief at his encounter with the rock God with bare feet, and a missing kitten.

**************************

A portly young man stopped walking for a moment.

He stepped back, assessing Freddie from a polite distance before making a considered approach.

“Excuse me, do you dance?” he asked politely. “Have you ever danced the ballet?”

“No!” Freddie screamed, stamping his bare foot sorely on the ground.

The young man leapt back in horror, large hands waving away his presumptuousness. “I’m sorry….I’m sorry. I meant no offence. You just look so familiar. I’m a costumier for the Royal Ballet, I thought perhaps I had…...dressed you” he whispered, glowing red.

“What is your name?” Freddie demanded in temper.

“Peter….Peter Freestone” the man offered timorously.

“Peter, please excuse me, but my kitten is missing. She’s my life. Please help me!” Freddie wailed.

He couldn’t raise his eyes.

He couldn’t look into yet another sneering face.

Another boy who was bigger than him, who was braver, who would laugh at his anguish.

The tears burnt at the back of his throat, prickling his eyes as he refused to shed them.

He was a man, and men did not cry in public!

How many times had his school master told him?

How many times had his father told him?

Perhaps he needed another beating…

Slowly, Freddie looked up.

Reflected at him was the sincerest gaze. The man’s eyes held such motherly compassion that Freddie thought it would break him.

“OK….ok” Peter said calmly, both hands raised as though soothing a startled foal. “What does the kitten look like?”

“She’s very small, and all black with emerald green eyes. Her name in Ebony but she’s never been out of the house before. She doesn’t know anybody, or even where she lives,” Freddie gabbled, the usual articulation lost in the urgency of the situation, causing his words to roll into one another.

The young man raise his hands once more.

This time he commanded the attention of the crowd with the professionalism of a career conductor.

“Ok everybody listen up; we have a missing kitten. Very small, black, may come to calls of Ebony. I want you to split into groups of two and each of you take a direction. Check gardens, under cars, doorways, knock on doors and ask to check back gardens. Ask everybody you see to stop what they are doing and look for the kitten. She’s young so more than likely skittish and will avoid you if she can. She probably hasn’t gone far. A very young kitten is likely to hide under a bush, or in a plant pot so check each one carefully.”

“What’s your name?” Peter whispered to an open-mouthed Freddie. Stunned at having watched the caring stranger shape shift into an organisational monster.

“Freddie” he whispered while chewing on his nails.

“If you find Ebony, decide which one of you will stay with her and send your partner back to get either Freddie or myself. Please don’t approach her, she will probably run off again unless she sees Freddie’s face” instructed Peter.

There was much chatter as total strangers turned to one another, choosing their buddies like they were on a corporate team building exercise.

Freddie felt large warm hands on his shoulders, and the compassion was back.

“Freddie, go home. Get some shoes on. Have a good look around. Cats always find their way home” said Peter gently, producing a notebook and pen from somewhere about his person. “What’s your address?” he asked, pen poised.

“I’m Freddie’s neighbour” Eddie piped up enthusiastically.

“Great” said Peter “You and I will form a team, and we will look for Ebony on the way back to Freddie’s house.”

“Go on, off you go” Peter waved Freddie away affectionately.

******************************

Freddie felt sick as he pushed open the door to what up until then had been a very happy home.

It felt so wrong to come home without the kitten.

He had failed.

He had failed Ebony, and he had failed Jim. There was no way that he could bear to stay here now.

Jim would hate him.

Anything could happen to that little kitten out in the world without the protection of her daddies.

He had to find her.

He could not return here without her again.

He glanced at the clock

He had an hour before Jim came home.

He couldn’t just sit here and wait like Peter had suggested.

He just needed his shoes, and he would be back out looking for her.

Freddie pushed open the living room door.

Jim was resting in his favourite armchair, his back to the door.

Freddie froze on the threshold.

His bare feet screeched on the floor like a cartoon cat as he came to an abrupt halt.

It was too late.

Jim had heard him.

Jim turned, a slow easy smile spread across his face, his expression soft, calm, at odds with the chaos that was Freddie.

“What are you doing home?” Freddie barked aggressively. A flash of anger suffusing through his chest. He didn’t like surprises at the best of times. “I thought you were still at college.”

Jim tipped his head back and laughed softly, stifling the sound.

“I’m pleased to see you too darling” he said with sarcasm.

Freddie was frozen in the doorway.

Jim narrowed his eyes with suspicion.

Freddie quickly wiped his face with the back of his hand when a tear escaped against his will. He sniffled loudly.

“I hope you’re not getting a cold sweetheart” Jim’s face crinkled with concern. “I thought you might like to go out tonight. Do you feel like grabbing the boys, maybe playing some pool until Heaven opens? Celebrate my newly qualified status” Jim boasted proudly, holding up his certificate.

Freddie forced his face into a broad smile, the action cracked his brittle emotions wide apart and before he could stop himself he sobbed loudly.

Jim swung his chair around in alarm, the action causing the pink splodged cotton wool balls to fly off the chair arm landing at Freddie’s bare feet.

Slowly Freddie dared to raise his eyes, to meet Jim’s.

He had to tell him.

Ebony was nestled in her daddy’s arms.

“What do you say Ebony? Think someone else has had their fur ruffled today?” Jim’s expression was one of calm understanding.

“EBONY!!!” Freddie squealed ecstatically, squeezing into the chair beside Jim, touching the little kitten’s soft fur so tentatively, being only too familiar with the overwhelming urge to run away.

Jim pulled Freddie’s legs over his own, wrapping his little family into a cosy caress.

“I’ve seen the paint upstairs. It comes off Freddie, really easily, see?” he held Ebony’s clean paws up to the light.

Freddie couldn’t bring himself to speak. He didn’t dare breath, it would all come out in a heated rush, and he couldn’t bear Jim’s disappointment.

“I hope you’re not going to be this upset every time something is broken or damaged sweetheart?” Jim said gently with great concern. “This is your home too. It’s ours. Are you going to be pissed off with me if I get paint on the carpet?”

Freddie shook his head.

“You could say this is your place…you pay the rent now…with money earned on the tour. I didn’t earn that did I? I watched you put more than you had into that tour darling. There’s no harm done. It’s really not worth your tears.”

“I’m not crying” Freddie insisted sulkily “I’m happy for you! Well done darling” Freddie shrieked emulating Eddie for volume, pitch and enthusiasm.

Jim narrowed his eyes in humour. He held Ebony up to his face. “If daddy won’t tell me what has been going on around here today, perhaps you will?”

Ebony politely wriggled free of Jim’s hold, snuggling onto Freddie’s lap. Both pairs of eyes looking up at him innocently in a show of unity. Partners in crime.

Jim laughed openly. “Oh I see, like that is it.”

Freddie laughed. His first genuine laugh since he had noticed the paw prints.

He snuggled closer to his husband, rubbing the last of his tears discreetly onto Jim’s shirt.

“Oh, we need to invite our neighbour out with us this evening” Freddie offered brightly.

Jim looked up in surprise “Old Mr Carter? That sly old fox, I didn’t pick him as one for the gay club!”

Freddie giggled and pointed the other way. “Nooooo! Eddie.”

“Did he speak to you?” Jim asked, equally as surprised. “I’ve had the odd word over the fence, but I don’t think he’s much of a conversationalist.”

Freddie giggled. “You’re not a rock star” he said proudly before nuzzling his head into the warm nook of Jim’s neck. Seeking his own safe place.

The two boys and a small kitten held each other tightly for precious moments before Freddie’s head popped up again. “Oh, and I think I’ve found Queen’s new costume manager. He’ll be along shortly.”

“Cos…costume manager?” Jim chuckled. “What the fuck else have I missed?!”


End file.
